Three more additions to the never-ending, gorged and growing list of things that bug me.
Ann Coulter
Now, I know that Ann Coulter, a syndicated columnist that we carry in this newspaper, is no stranger to controversy.
And I also know that she really likes to stir things up.But honestly, her use of a gay slur to describe U.S. Senator John Edwards was just a bit unnecessary.
Now don't get me wrong. As a strong proponent of freedom of speech and expression, I would heartily defend her use of whatever language she wants, but I guess I just don't really see the need to be quite that offensive.
What's she trying to do, give conservatives a bad name? Trust me, conservatives don't need any help with that these days.
And as off-the-wall as the comment was, the forum in which it was made - the Conservative Political Action Conference - made things even worse.
When you're speaking at a shindig like that, there's this perceived tacit approval of your views by the group you're addressing.
So she sort of drags all conservatives down the same snotty little path.
Be that as it may, I always get a kick out of the left when it comes to things like this. The left, of course, is incensed by Coulter's "hate speech."
Ah, the left. They are such great arbiters of what is offensive, aren't they?
For decades, the enlightened legions of the left have been defending all manner of vile nonsense in the name of freedom.
Any vile lyric. Any vile film. Any vile program. Any vile video game. Any vile anything. It's all good. Stream it into our living rooms.
Weren't we conservatives always told, "Hey, if you don't like it, turn it off."
When conservatives suggested that perhaps society and culture pays a price when children are exposed to sex and violence, we were reviled as censors.
It's the prudish conservatives who are always accused of trying to trample the expressive rights of the enlightened left.
And liberals are no strangers to "hate speech."
Anybody ever listen to Air America? Rosie O'Donnell?
Here's a fun little tidbit from James Carville: "As with mosquitoes, horseflies and most bloodsucking parasites, Kenneth Starr was spawned in stagnant water."
Go on any liberal blog and see what people are saying about W these days.
So when liberals whine about Ann Coulter being offensive, I chuckle.
Liberals have been offending me for decades.
By Friday morning, we here at the little old Times-Union had received in the neighborhood of 400 e-mails demanding that we remove Coulter's column from our newspaper.
Not one of the e-mails was from a local person and each person wrote exactly the same thing. How odd that all these hundreds of people came to the exact same conclusion and expressed themselves in exactly the same way. What an amazing coincidence.
(We won't be killing her column, by the way.)
Sure, I think what Ann Coulter said was offensive. It was offensive, by any standard.
But so is lots and lots of other stuff that liberals embrace, so I think maybe they just need to calm down a little bit.
Voyeurism
What is up with these local people getting arrested for putting hidden cameras in private places?
Why in the world would anybody do that?
That's a rhetorical question. I know why. They want to see something naughty.
But really, in this day and age, there is so much of that crap discretely available on the Internet, why risk arrest?
Just pull out your credit card and watch to your heart's content.
That way there is no risk of arrest and nobody gets victimized.
You'll save money, too, because it's probably cheaper than buying a hidden camera setup.
Lilly Grants
First of all, let me congratulate the two local teachers who were awarded Lilly Endowment Fellowships.
They each received $8,000 from Lilly.
Of the 780 school employees who applied, 129 got the fellowships.
According to Lilly, the program "enables teachers, principals, guidance counselors and school librarians from the state to take time to pursue their personal interests, explore subjects that interest them, or just get away."
Now here's the part that bugs me.
(Please understand that I am not being critical of the two local teachers that won these fellowships. Kudos to them.)
One of them is buying kayak gear and following a dream of being a world class kayak racer. The other is heading to Europe to check out opera.
But it seems to me that Lilly could better spend its millions. Basically, it sounds to me like the Lilly Foundation is funding cool vacations for teachers in the hopes that it will motivate them to be better teachers. And while that is very nice, I wonder if that is highest and best use for its dollars?
With school corporations in Indiana strapped for cash, I bet the 129 schools these teachers represent could have found a fully educational purpose for the money.
